Technology these days

Look who I found in Tokyo:

Thanks to the wonders of Facebook news feed, I was able to reunite with one of my old Berkeley buddies, Aaron. We were a part of the same church community when we were in college and had a lot of mutual friends. I seriously haven't seen him in about 4 years, since he graduated from Cal. And of all places, I was able to reconnect with him in Tokyo!

Aaron has a really genuine, uninhibited, bubbly laugh that makes me want to giggle along with him. Besides that, he's just hilarious in general and has so many funny stories to tell. He's been to Japan a few times and we had fun exploring Shinjuku with him.

This is the view of Tokyo from the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building:

For dinner, we went to an okonomiyaki restaurant, where you actually cook the pancake-like dish for yourself on the skillet built into the table. We didn't really understand the Japanese directions on how to prepare the meal, so the waiter was nice enough to guide us through it with the fewest English words he could have possibly said to give direction. I actually ordered an omelette and was relieved when the waiter cooked it for me. Ana + Aaron did a good job cooking their okonomiyaki, even though the 4-minute timer at our table was malfunctioning.

Afterward, Aaron took us to his favorite gay nightlife hot spots in Shinjuku. They were all pretty empty because it was early. And a Wednesday. But we did see some cute Japanese boys holding hands. And penis-shaped balloons.

It was a fun day spent with lots of laughing, catching up, and venturing into every single convenience store in sight in search of unique Japanese candies. I still can hardly believe I got to spend the day with Aaron in Tokyo, of all places!

On the way back to our hostel, Ana and I had the Tokyo experience of being totally squished onto a train. We were literally smashed into the back side of the train. You would be mistaken to think that the train is full and no one else can get on. Because more people will get on. And they do it silently! People don't yell at each other or say anything to anyone else. I would imagine riots and expletives if this were on the Bart... But here, they just kind of passive aggressively push themselves onto the carriage. Craziness! I had to stifle my laughter at the situation because everyone was so silent.

So glad to get off that train...

Off to Kyoto soon! I could totally stay in Tokyo longer, but I'd fear that I might buy too many useless Hello Kitty things... So this is probably a good move. Peace out, Tokyo!